Zach Cregger, the 44-year-old comedian and actor, recently discussed the impact that David Fincher’s filmmaking advice had on his work directing the new horror film Weapons. This project, which is his second time directing, benefited from Fincher’s guidance throughout its development and post-production phases. Cregger openly expressed his gratitude for Fincher’s support, which led to a special thanks in the movie’s credits.
Insights into Fincher’s Support During the Production of Weapons
In an interview with Variety, Zach Cregger explained that David Fincher was not only approachable but also deeply involved in helping him refine his editing skills. He shared,
“He’s just a very helpful guy. He was available to me during prep, and then he was very available during the post process,”
and added,
“He watched the movie and had a lot of really constructive thoughts and gave me a ton of ideas. He helped me learn more about the editing process and how to think about it in a new way that wasn’t available to me when I was making Barbarian. So he just opened my mind up a lot.”
Learning New Techniques and Overcoming Challenges
Zach also revealed how Fincher’s mindset pushed him to strive for better results, rather than accepting imperfections. Cregger said,
“There are things I thought I had to just settle for. I thought, ‘Well, that’s the take I have. That’s the best take. And it’s not perfect, but by God, nothing is.’ Dave’s attitude is, ‘It can always be better, and there are a lot of tools that you have at your disposal that you might not be thinking about.’”
He described gaining new technical knowledge, including how to approach reframing, stabilization, and ADR, alongside deeper understanding of lens choices.
“Honestly, I learned a lot about how to prep, what lenses to use. I shot this mostly anamorphic, and I didn’t quite respect how limiting anamorphic is in the post process. So stuff like that, technical stuff,”
Cregger explained.
Weapons’ Release and Notable Cast
The film Weapons features performances from Julia Garner and Josh Brolin and recently premiered in theaters. As Cregger steps further into his role as a director, the lessons learned from David Fincher’s advice are likely to influence his future projects, enhancing his filmmaking craftsmanship and expanding his creative toolkit.
